1. Field of the Invention
The technical scope of the present invention is that of protection devices for land vehicles, and more particularly protection devices against magnetic detection mines.
2. Description of the Related Art
The use of mines during conflicts is widespread nowadays and constitutes a relatively inexpensive means, which is simple to use and particularly destructive, namely for the protection of a delimited zone or to hinder the advance of an army. The mine thus constitutes an omnipresent but furtive threat which, in most conflicts, constitutes one of the principle factors in the loss of human lives and property.
The threat constituted by mines is largely diversified. Two main types of mines can be distinguished according to the intended target (personnel or vehicles) which themselves encompass separate families depending on the mode of aggression. In the domain of anti-vehicle mines, different modes of triggering may be distinguished. The most common are those triggered by pressure, tilting, with trip wires, magnetic detectors, seismic detectors or infra-red detectors.
For vehicles likely to be travelling into mined areas, in particular military or demining vehicles, it is essential that they be protected against such mines and more particularly against magnetic detection mines which are used more and more frequently.
One solution consists in increasing the protection of the vehicle by increasing the thickness of the vehicle floor pan, by positioning a caisson under the vehicle body which has a high potential for deformation or by profiling the bottom of the vehicle body so as to deviate the blast of the explosion, but these solutions considerably increase the vehicle's mass. Moreover, however efficient they may be, such protections protect the vehicle against a first explosion but are unable to protect it against successive explosions. Moreover, the explosion of a mine reveals the presence of a vehicle which may thereafter be easily located by the enemy.
Another solution consists in using amagnetic materials to manufacture the vehicle, but such materials are particularly onerous. Moreover, certain vehicle elements, for example the engine, cannot be produced using such materials.